I was watching the news on Channel 8 last night and saw a story about a local law enforcements effort to keep us safe/make money. I didn't catch exactly which city but my guess it was Fort Worth. Sounds like a Fort Worth project. They were perched on bridges along I20. Anyway a rather portly police officer had in his hand what looked like a regular radar gun. He was pointing this device at the cars below which were no doubt just filled with criminals. He was not clocking the speed the cars were traveling in hopes he could catch us speeding. He explained that his radar gun had a program in it that calculated the distance one car was from another. Yes you heard correctly they were catching people who were following the car in front of them too closely.
Somehow this gun would take the speed of both cars and tell the officer that one was to close to the other by the number of seconds it took to travel the same distance or something like that. When the gun caught the criminal then the police force would chase them down, explain why they were giving the ticket and race off to catch more law breakers. I am finally relieved that the police department is solving this problem as it is one that has been concerning me. I don't know how often I have been concerned that there was an epidemic of people following too closely on our highways. Or is it that I haven't noticed that because I have been looking out for those bikers who are going about 1000 miles per hour and putting their life and my life in danger. I wonder why they don't chase those guys down. Oh I remember they can't catch them so they come up with a new reason to catch us.
I am thinking well since this group of police officers are now doing this I must be more careful because I know the cities goal is to keep us safe and not just to get more of our money. They are worried about our safety aren't they? It is not about the money is it??? Anyway how is one to keep ones self protected from those who protect us? I think the law says, (at least according to this officer) that you must be at least two seconds behind the guy in front of you and that depends on the speed you are both going. I guess if the guy in front of you is slowing down and you don't slow down as fast, then you could be breaking the law. I am sure there are other ways to break this law that we haven't thought of.
I guess I am going to have to get me one of those guns so I can tell how far I am away, or maybe figure out how the calculation is done and get out my cell phone and do the calculations. Oops that is probably against the law as well. What's a person to do I ask. I know; I think I will just send the city some money as it appears they will get me for something before it is over. Who knows they might just catch a criminal while they are chasing us down for following too close. One thing is for sure I feel much safer than I did.
More to come
Lonny
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2 comments:
It was Grand Prairie. I suspect those Pantego and Dalworthington Gardens bozos will all want them so they can find another way to take money from people unfortunate enough to have to drive through their little traffic traps.
There are several departments that need to drop that slogan "To Protect and Serve" to pick up the more appropriate, "To create as much revenue as we can to afford more of us". A few years back, my daughter was about to take a trip and opined to me that she needed some oil in her car. I was working in the yard, hot and sweaty, but being the dudtiful dad that I am I acquiesced and hopped into the car to make the 1 mile trip to the auto parts dealer. I exited the neighborhood i block from my driveway and was immediately pulled over by a motorcycle officer who gave me a ticket for not wearing my seat belt (I hadn't gone 100 feet yet). I'm sure this ticket which cast me over $100 dollars at the time was for my own protection. I am concerned however for in the event of and accident I feel I am more protected than that officer on her bike.
More telling was the officer in Hurst who stopped her patrol car and waited for me to exit Northeast Mall. At any point she could have told me I was exiting an entrance not an exit, but she couldn't wait to tell me how I had ignored 3 traffic controll devices to make this terrible exit. I went back to the site later to see what I had missed. There was one sign that I didn't travel far enough to see and another that was behind the stop sign at the intersection ergo not visable. Oh by the way 3 cars made that same exit while I was looking for the sign. "To protect and Serve?" Not so much!!!
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